Steve Dillon is a British comic book artist from Luton, England. He has worked on a number of titles. He was penciller for some seminal works including the ‘Satanic Verses’ of Vertigo – Preacher, written by his consistent creative partner Garth Ennis (Preacher, Hellblazer, Punisher). Finding information on him is nigh on impossible as he seems to be as mysterious as The Saint of Killers, the iconic and legendary hunter of men designed by Dillon for the previously mentioned Preacher.

Dillon realised his potential as a serious comics artist during the production of a school comic book called ‘Sci Fi Adventures’ with school friends Neil Bailey and Paul Mahon in 1975. Dillon’s first strip in this comic was the brilliantly named ‘The Space Vampire’. This was followed by ‘Escape from Planet of the Apes’ which was drawn to a standard well beyond his years. In the late seventies Dillon wrote and illustrated a strip ‘Pi’ ina fanzine produced with Bailey called ‘Ultimate Science Fiction’.

To illustrate how far in advance of his age his drawing was Dillon secured his first professional gig in the first issue of Hulk Weekly for Marvel UK at the age of 16. He later worked on the Nick Fury. In the 1980s he also drew for Warrior and Doctor Who magazine, where he created the character Absolom Daak, Dalek Killer, a convicted killer given a reprieve for the death penalty in exchange for battling the bread bins from space. His concepts were significantly sharper and more broad than the children’s story of Doctor Who required but Dillon was going to get to sharpen his pencil for significantly darker story lines later on.

His work for 2000AD was prolific, from 1980 in Ro-Jaws’ Robo Tales: Final Solution with Alan Moore, through to a prominent position alongside Judge Dredd legends such as McMahon, Bolland and Ezquerra from 1981 to his last in 1987 and taking in Ro-Busters, Rogue Trooper, ABC Warriors and Bad Company and one shots and short runs like Hap Hazard (Prog 561 & 567, 1988) and Tyranny Rex (Prog 566-568, 1988).

In this time he completed initial redesigns for DC’s The Wanderers (a super hero team introduced in Legion of Superheroes – killed conveniently (redesigned) by Clonus, their Controller mentor and restored to a 13 issue story in the late 80s. These designs were abandoned and replaced by Robert Campanella. The series itself was drawn by Dave Hoover and Robert Campanella. Although frustrations occurred in the early days this shows signs DC were interested in the man himself as part of the British Invasion that was taking place at the time.

Along with Brett Ewins, Dillon started the comic magazine Deadline in 1988, which continued on for another seven years. Deadline was incredibly representative of the popular music/ comic book culture of the time and was to be the most successful of the 2000AD spin-offs of the period. It introduced the world to Jamie Hewlett and Tank Girl and championed the Brit Pop era that ultimately killed it off. However, by this time Dillon was working on US titles.

Finishing up with 2000AD with Harlem Heroes: Series 2 (Progs #671-676, 683-699 & 701-703, 1990) the move to the US happened with a shift over to Animal Man (now made popular by Grant Morrison’s 26 issue run) working alongside Tom Veitch for 18 issues.

Following this, Dillon worked on the gritty supernatural thriller Hellblazer, following down trodden semi-twat John Constantine through the dark confines of the supernatural underworld. Although incredibly popular and with a significant following and a feature film this was effectively a training ground for what came next. The critically acclaimed Preacher, following Jesse Custer ,disillusioned pastor struck by the supernatural power of Genesis and sent on a pilgrimage with his briefly estranged girlfriend Tulip O’ Hare and Irish Vampire Cassidy to find God and answer as to what he thought he was playing at.

In this series, Dillon brought his distinctive and clear cut artwork to life. It was written by Ennis with Dillon in mind and the majority of the action takes place in wide empty landscapes and run down detailess motels of middle America (and France). Dillon’s unambiguous artwork matched perfectly the unflinching content of Ennis’ writing: taking in sadism, masochism, buggery, a bulimic cardinal, a constantly physically humiliated villain, and the effects of an unkillable gunman from the depths of the earth facing off against an unwilling platoon of guardsmen. And thats just the beginning. I didn’t even mention the man with a face of an Arse.

Indeed, Arseface is potentially one of Dillon’s best designs, simultaneously massively deformed (everyone spontaneously vomits at the sight of him) and tragically, sensitively gallant. It makes the creation at once sympathetic and hilarious. Hard to explain, I encourage you to take a look for yourself.

Preacher ran for 66 glorious, sweary issues before concluding in 2000. It represents still a master work of irreverant character design and spacious, effective graphic story telling – at once representing romantic and traditional ideals with graphic and appalling violence and criminal scale debauchery.

From this (aside from an Atom special for DC) Dillon has continued to work with Marvel (and Ennis in part) beginning with transferring the mindless violence of Preacher to the pages of Punisher for Marvel Knights. This worked to great effect, with Dillon’s light touch and cinematic compositions offering an alternative version of the Punisher that had been prevalent since John Romita Jr’s run on Punisher: War Journal in the early 90s. Concentrating on Marvels MAX imprint Dillon drew for Straczynski’s Supreme Power spin off : Nighthawk and then to the 5 issue mini-series Bullseye: Greatest Hits (2005) – mixing it up almost immediately after with Punisher Vs Bullseye 5 issue mini series from 2005-2006).

Dillon went A-list with Marvel when offered a run with Wolverine: Origins 1-25. While his unfussy panels reduced the gravity and roughness of the central character, the violence and brutality of the title was understandably well realised.

Then it was back to Punisher with Garth Ennis in 2009 for a 6 issue series of Punisher: War Zone and Punisher MAX with Jason Aaron, an ongoing series still running now.

The high point of his career was perhaps Preacher as it utilised his skills most keenly with landscape, composition, content and characterisation but Dillon is a commercial artist hard to beat – offering accessible, enjoyable and clearly depicted panels that allow the writer’s story to flow through. This is often underestimated but as a storyteller Dillon is an exceptional practitioner. Who else can show you a Vampire getting his nuts blown off and raise a smile?

Mick McMahon is a British artist who has ebbed and flowed in and out of the comics industry for 30 years. His work has braced the pages of 2000AD, Toxic!, Tank Girl, Rugrats and Sonic the Comic. But his work has moved well beyond his pages, inspiring some of the most prominent graphic artists in the industry today. Some of the most prominent and successful characters around today owe a debt to McMahon’s constantly evolving style – proving without a doubt his incredible talent. But, more than that, he’s just plain funky.

Judge Dredd was created in 1977 to appear in 2000AD by writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra, but problems with pre-publication ked to both of the previous creators walking off the project. Both Wagner and Ezquerra would return to the pages of 2000AD and the Dredd himself but in the intervening time the toughest lawman on the streets of Megacity 1 had to be given a face and a pair of boots to stride in. Pat Mills and Peter Harris took over and were responsible for the first published Dredd comic book, and was drawn by an inexperienced yung artist called Mike McMahon.

He was chosen primarily by Mills (who was editor at the time) because he could do a passable impression of Ezquerra’s work. However, it didn’t take long for McMahon’s style to take hold. It could’ve been said that he had inherited the greatest British Comic Book character to date by chance but to flip it, perhaps more logically it seems more likely that McMahon developed the lawman to become this. His style, more angular and abstract than Ezquerra’s more organic style; notable for its sharp lines and clear, crisp contours and clearly, nigh caricatured features on the characters he drew became the default with other artists such as Ian Gibson and Brian Bolland taking his lead and introducing their own spin on the way McMahon was developing the character.

In the early period of his career, McMahon’s style was characterised by a ‘quick, spontaneous approach that verged on the messy’. His figures were gaunt compare to Ezquerra and Bolland’s interpretations, with pen lines thrown down spontaneously and hatching completed with a fully-charged brush his work set the bleeding edge of visceral and unrestrained artwork for the environment and content expected in Judge Dredd and 2000AD itself. While John Wagner returned to his creation, McMahon continued on as the lead artist on Judge Dredd.

In 1979, taking a break from art droid duties on the Dredd, McMahon began on Pat Mill’s Ro-busters (following a freelance agent pursuing rogue or out of control robots in the future) and the more brutal and savage spin-off, ABC Warriors, alternating with Kevin O’ Neill. While working with O’ Neill, McMahon’s work became tighter and his characters began to become meatier and fuller in stature.

McMahon returned to Judge Dredd for ‘The Judge Child’ and introduced high contrast artwork for the following series ‘Block Mania’, separating more clearly black and white in his compositions. Due to complete 9 episodes, McMahon bowed out after only 2 due to the punishing nature of his newfound detailing and Mill’s introduction of extensive crowd scenes for the battle between the blocks depicted in the episodes. The work was completed by Ron Smith, Steve Dillon and Brian Bolland. Having handled 2000ADs primary character, McMahon needed a new character to draw.

As McMahon returned from a 2 year gap from 2000AD (in which he brought his distinctive style to Doctor Who Magazine), a character that had suffered initial difficulties reared its unwashed celtic head. McMahon met Slaine and applied a new style, unleashed from the sterile science fiction he introduced a more naturalistic, compositional and flared style to his work. The tones were deep and luxurious, the action visceral, uncontained and brutal where necessary and light and human when necessary. His character’s remained grotesques with elongated or extended features but upheld natural structure and anatomy at the same time. McMahon was applying abstraction and realism in equal measure to pages crowded with detail.

In 1984, McMahon disappeared from the scene only to return again after a long illness that prevented him from drawing in 1991, with the Last American, written by Wagner and Alan Grant, for Marvel’s Epic imprint. His style had evolved once again and met perfectly with the stark and deranged story of a US Soldier placed into suspended animation before a Nuclear War in order to restore order after it. Ulysses Pilgrim, the last American the title refers to spends three issues trying to find survivors, accompanied by three slightly malfunctioning robots, and struggling not to lose his grip on his own mind to despair. McMahon’s art is ‘blocky, all straight, edgy lines and enclosed areas of flat deep, vivid colour, stylised yet straight faced, perfectly straddling the low-key realism of the story and Pilgrim’s increasingly desperate mental state.’

From this McMahon has worked predominantly in games design and his distinctive comic works have become few and far between. He featured in Hellraiser, an Alien Legion One-shot, an unfinished comic strip, ‘Mutomaniac’ in the doomed 2000AD spin-off Toxic!, occasional returns to Judge Dredd and a futuristic take on Batman in Legends of the Dark Knight, all of which saw him with a more simple and flattened style. New depth returned to his work in Sonic the Comic, Tattered Banners for DC Comic’s Vertigo, a return to ABC Warriors and a short Batman Black and White back-up story.

He applied his distinctive style to the Marvel Uk/ Panini Rugrats series which was cancelled early on in its run. He returned to the Judge in Prog 1539 of 2000AD. McMahon also worked on Tank Girl (made famous by Jamie Hewlett) -Carioca, a six-part mini series with Tank Girl creator Alan Martin.

Mick McMahon’s style drags complacent onlookers out of the read-and-wander-off-the end-of-the-page mind set that is prevalent in modern comic books. His stylism and distinctly vehemently organic style, backed with a consistently evolving and altering pack of methods and techniques which he seems to apply to each and every new project that he comes across has kept his work engaging, relevant and challenging for 30 years and ticking.

He is referenced by many influential artists as an inspiration, including Mike Mignola, Jamie Hewlett and Dave Gibbons. His unremitting stylism expanding well beyond the small number of comic works he may have comparatively created. The mark of a true practitioner.

Born in 1955, Brett Ewins is a comic book artist best known for his work on Judge Dredd and Rogue Trooper in the weekly Sci-fi comic book 2000AD. But he was more than that – responsible in part for continuing and popularising some of the most prominent comic book characters in British history.

Ewins studied at Goldsmith’s college and left in 1977 forming a long term collaborative partnership with fellow artist Brendan McCarthy, creating the comic Sometime Stories, which faltered after the first issue leaving the second complete and unpublished. However, from these meagre start Ewins had made an impact. A capable artist, with clear and concise line work and compositions more transatlantic than many of his peers in the UK comic industry his methodology allowing story telling to take most prominence on any page he drew – he proved popular with fans of 2000AD, whom he was signed to for Issue 33 of 2000AD in October of the same year.

Ewins provided a great many covers for 2000AD, catching eyes on newsstands around the country with his bright bold and clear style that must have buzzed the eyes through the dim days and rain hewn streets of England. His was a flash of colour from somewhere sunnier, sharper and more comically dangerous – his style belying and surpassing the aggression, violence and darkness that many of 2000AD’s strips began from. Much like McCarthy, his style was sparkling and built out of solid and recognisable comic book conventions, embraced and expanded upon.

Ewins and McCarthy continued to work together on strips such as Judge Dredd but soon after Ewins began to work solo on Rogue Trooper and later still Judge Anderson (both highly noteworthy recurring characters in 2000AD history). In 1985 Ewins started work on Bad Company, a concept by Alan Grant and John Wagner that hadn’t seen the light of day in 16 years, written finally by Peter Milligan with artwork by Ewins and Jim McCarthy, Bad Company saw the light of a UK day in Prog 500 of 2000AD. From this initial boost, Bad Company rolled forwards through to 2002 finished by Wagner, Grant and Judge Dredd visual grandpappy Carlos Ezquerra. But BAD Company left an indelible mark on 2000AD and the British comic industry, much as Ewins himself did.

It wasn’t 2000AD that Ewins should be recalled most for however but Deadline (founded in 1988), created by Ewins and Steve Dillon. Deadline featured a mixture of comic strips and written articles targetted at older readers. Similar to the titles Revolver, Crisis and Toxic which emerged during the title’s formative years and passed away, Deadline (Deadline publications) survived the early years and had a cultural influence beyond the comics world. Within its pages and nurtured by Ewins and Dillon appeared a comics artist superstar in the form of Jamie Hewlett. Issue 1 as far back as 1988 featured a cover with the counterculture post-punk icon Tank Girl.

Ewins at a Tank Girl Photoshoot, 1989 for Deadline magazine.

Ewins was incredibly representative of the 80s and personified the ideal of Deadline. The commercial failure of the Tank Girl movie saw the end of Deadline in the early 90s.

Ewins himself ‘suffered a serious breakdown from overwork’ in 1991 and was unable to take on work that had a deadline, losing him commissions from DC Comics and Penguin Books. A danger for any creative, Ewins was taken out of the industry he had worked in for more than a decade. In order to recover, his plan was to create an anthology based on work from friends in the industry including Peter Milligan, Alan Grant and Alan McKenzie as well as friends in the music industry such as Michael White. At the heart of it a story ,’Machine’, written by Brett based on his breakdown. The collection was eventually printed in 2004 by Cyberosia Publishing.

Godfathers of Punk (Brett Ewins)

A facilitator and cultural ambassador who founded a publication that supported the Brit musical era that ultimately killed it – Ewins is a subversive creator with a touch that has been popular. In the eighties he embodied the counter-culture post-punk era perfectly and this was reflected in the success of 2000AD buoyed by his covers and enhanced and enabled some of its most prominent characters.